Dying Woman Shares Powerful 'Death With Dignity' Message For CA Lawmakers

In a HuffPost Live interview Monday, Christy O'Donnell, an attorney and former LAPD sergeant, made a plea to California lawmakers: She wants to leave this world on her own terms.

O'Donnell has terminal, stage IV lung cancer and she doesn't want to be forced to leave her home state in order to die with dignity.

"There are a lot of people like me who have come to California. We have to chosen to live here. We've chosen to work here. We've chosen to raise our children here, and we should not have to go to another state just to avoid excruciating physical pain," she told host Ricky Camilleri. "We have a right to live peacefully and die peacefully in the state that we've chosen to live in the rest of our lives."

O'Donnell's plea comes in light of California's proposed End of Life Option Act, which would enact a law similar to the one Oregon has in place to allow physician-assisted suicides. Though similar bills have failed in California in the past, the case of Brittany Maynard — who moved to Oregon to have a physician-assisted suicide — made national headlines, which could help this iteration of the bill gain enough support to pass.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) notably endorsed the bill last week.

Watch the full HuffPost Live conversation here.

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